Faced with a shortage of soldiers on the front, kyiv wants to expand military mobilization. To do this, the Ukrainian Parliament voted this Wednesday, February 7, at first reading, a controversial bill intended to allow the army to replenish its ranks after two years of war with Russia. A total of 243 elected officials validated this document, the minimum required being 226, several parliamentarians reported on social networks.
To be adopted, however, the text must still be the subject of parliamentary debates, proposed amendments and a vote on second reading, a procedure which can take place over several weeks. President Volodymyr Zelensky will then have to promulgate it. A debate on mobilization has raged for weeks in Ukraine. The Ukrainian army has suffered losses, the extent of which is kept secret, and is struggling today, unlike at the start of the conflict, to find volunteers for the front.
Zelensky wants to mobilize “up to 500,000 people”
Volodymyr Zelensky said in December that the army had offered to mobilize up to 500,000 additional people. This bill prepared by the government was to be examined in Parliament in January but the deputies ended up sending the text back for rewriting.
The document voted on Wednesday lowers the age of mobilization from 27 to 25 years and simplifies enlistment procedures. Calls to the army could also be transmitted via an online platform on which every Ukrainian who can be mobilized will have to register. This procedure aims to prevent any potential refractoriness from avoiding the distribution of this summons. Unlike the previous draft, however, the text provides that the most severe sanctions – including restrictions on the right to drive or the freezing of bank accounts – must be approved by a court.
As many Ukrainians are abroad, the bill also requires them to present military registration documents to benefit from consular services, including applying for a new passport, at Ukrainian embassies abroad. The document, however, remains vague on the demobilization of those who have been at the front for a long time.
If the bill a priori restricts wartime service to 36 months, currently unlimited, it also stipulates that the deadlines for demobilization will be determined by the decision of the military command. “It is not a question of justice, but of coercion. There is no demobilization and it is unfair for the soldiers who have been fighting for two years in Avdiivka, Bakhmout and Koupiansk”, the most important points. hot from the front, denounced on Facebook the pro-Western opposition MP Iryna Guerachchenko.